噪鹛科zào-méi kē

噪眉科zào-méi kē

ガビチョウ科gabi-chō ka

General

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Possibly because many species are conspicuous and familiar birds, particularly as cage birds, a number of ornithological names of the Leiothrichidae draw on existing traditional names:

1. Laughing-thrush (Garrulax and Trochalopteron) and liochiclas (Liochicla) are together called by the old name นกกะรางnók kà-raaŋ'laughingthrush (bird)'. Besides the laughing-thrushes and liochiclas, this name is also used for the Hoopoe (Upupidae), นกกะรางหัวขวาน nók kà-raaŋ-hŭa-kʰwăan 'woodpecker laughingthrush (bird)', where นกหัวขวาน nók hŭa-kʰwăan, literally 'axe-headed bird', is a general name for the woodpeckers (Picidae).

2. Mesias (Leiothrix) are called นกกะรองnók kà-roaaŋ'mesia (bird)'.

3. Barwings (Actinodura) are called นกปีกลายnók pìik-laay'striped-wing (bird)', most likely a loan translation from English.

4. Minlas (Chrysominla and Siva) are called นกศิวะnók sì-wá'Shiva bird'. Thai ศิวะsì-wá'Shiva' from Sanskrit and Pali śiva is the name of a popular Hindu god.

5. Sibias (Heterophasia and Leioptila) are called นกหางรำnók hăaŋ-ram'dancing-tail (bird)'.

6. The nun babblers (Alcippe) are known as นกมุ่นรกคอแดงnók mûn-rók'fulvetta (bird)'. The fulvettas are now spread across several genera straddling three different families (Leiothrichidae, Pellorneidae, and Sylviidae).

7. The cutia is known as นกขัติยาnók kàt-tì-yaa'cutia (bird)', from English 'cutia'.

Family name

The family name used here, นกกินแมลงนักร้องnók kin-ma-laeeŋ nák-róaaŋ'singer insect-eater (bird)', is a term for the 'song babblers' under broad divisions drawn within the former Timaliidae assemblage.

In its original sense, 雀 què meant 'sparrow' in Chinese, although from a very early stage it came to be used for the finches. It also occurs in the name 山雀 shān-què 'mountain sparrow/finch', which is the ornithological name for the tits (Paridae). Here, 雀 què is an abbreviation for 山雀 shān-què ('tit'). 雀鹛 què-méi is, in fact, the Chinese equivalent of English 'tit babbler'.

The term 畫眉鳥 gabi-chō 'painted-eyebrow-bird' is from Chinese 畫眉 huà-méi 'painted-eyebrow', which primarily refers to the Hwamei or Melodious Laughing-thrush (Leiothrichidae). It has been extended in ornithological Japanese to many of the laughing-thrushes (Garrulax and related genera) and occasionally other families.

Check-list of Thai Birds Round, Philip D., Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, Bangkok 2008. Draft version downloaded from the site of the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand in 2009 but no longer posted there, an expanded update of the species included in Lekagul & Round 1991